


All That Glitters

by Ashida



Category: Gangsta. (Manga)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Friendship, Introspection, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 09:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4782680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashida/pseuds/Ashida
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jewelry might cost a lot, but to Alex it wasn’t worth anything, certainly not as much as this as Nic tugged her along for the umpteenth time so they could be done faster and go home to eat, together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All That Glitters

**Author's Note:**

> I ship them, a lot. I also head canon a huge mutual unrequited crush on both their parts, so maybe I'll do a Nic POV too, idk.

All That Glitters.

 

Alex didn’t fancy jewelry. As a child it held more naïve value to her, the pretty earrings and sparkling gemstones were all things that princesses wore, luscious gold and priceless diamonds were ideals any little girl dreamed of, along with the prince charming that went with it.

 

Oh, how she’d learned long ago not to buy into any gemstone facades that fairy tails hailed, especially after Barry. After all, jewelry could make someone look like something they weren’t, and Alex didn’t hate many things but liars were one thing she’d come to despise, especially those that lied to themselves. A hooker with rubies and platinum was still a hooker that spread their legs in the grime of the streets to get by, and a man with tasteful gold rings on his fingers was still just another Ergastulum thug disguised in a woolen suit of armor armed with money and greed.

 

A man would still take you with the cold metal of his wedding band searing at your skin with his touches, and those pearl necklaces and sapphire earrings worn by some of the other women that worked the streets were just a gaudy attempt to increase their own sense of self worth.

 

No, that sort of thing did nothing for Alex, what you saw with her was what you got, no sparkles about her fingers or glimmers piercing her ears, no twinkles around her throat nor dazzles adorning her wrists, just Alex Benedetto.

 

That sort of flashiness she could bypass now, that was until she met him and the different sort of treasures that came with him.

 

Nicolas Brown and his indecipherable worth; _he_ had a different kind of shine that was hard for her not to look at. It was the lustrous premonition of controlled chaos in his eyes that captured her, the sharp polish of sin and the promise of power reflected in his flawless blade that Alex could tell was more precious than any gemstone accessory that kept her transfixed. The white of his teeth as he smirked murder and the chink of his tags that came with it, and she was obsessed with jewelry all over again the moment she saw those tags flush against his chest.

 

They tolled an ode that he was ever oblivious of as they did their morning deliveries together, clinking an innocent rhythm and soothing her with the beat of his footsteps to set their pace.

 

She’d made out the details on those tags with a few secret looks that were never a secret because Nic always knew when she looked at them, and something as simple as a pair of metal dog tags shouldn’t occupy her as much as they did, but then there was the underside with the A/O engraved as deep as the scars on Nic’s body, the underside that caught the light more than any jewel could and glittered in her eyes with an unassuming brilliance only Nicolas Brown was capable of.

 

Then she would be left wondering at _that_ necklace of all things, stopped in her tracks because this sort of jewelry that cost _nothing_ wasn’t meant to make someone look better by design, but to decrease someone’s _worth_ instead. And it was all completely backwards to Alex, because here was this ‘Tagged’ that walked back to fetch her every single time to tell her to “Hurry up, you’re slow.” Which was just a Nic way of not letting her zone out or get lost in meaningless thoughts, Nic’s way of checking on her in his own round about style, as she knew he always would, and Nic’s way of saying he wouldn’t ever leave her behind.

 

Jewelry might cost a lot, but to Alex it wasn’t worth anything, certainly not as much as this as Nic tugged her along for the umpteenth time so they could be done faster and go home to eat, together.

 

Alex didn’t fancy jewelry, but those scratched tags around Nic’s neck on inexpensive steel were as invaluable as the person that came with them, and to her worth much more than any ‘tag' could label. 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading my little drabble :)
> 
> Don't be shy, find me on tumblr! [here](http://captain-erwinmerica.tumblr.com)


End file.
